Knit fabric.



A. N. AMES.

KNK! FABRIC. APPLICATION EILED JAN. I7. I9l3.

Patnted Jan. 8, M18.

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ARTHUR N. AMES, OF FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, v.l-ISS'JGrNOR., BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO COMMERCIAL MACHINE COMPANY, 0F FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A

CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

KNIT FABRIC.

, Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. S, 1918.

Application filed J' anuary 17, 1913. Serial No. 742,627.

To all whom z't may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR N. AMES, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Franklin, in the county of Merrimack and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knit Fabrics, 0f which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to knit fabrics, and has particular reference to stockings.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a stocking of the type known as sanitary, in which .the undyed yarn forms only the portion of the stocking which is in contact with those portions of the foot which are most liable to be injuriously affected by dyed yarn, all portions of the stocking which might show above a low shoebeing of any desired kind of dyed yarn.

Another object is to provide a stocking having all portions of thel yarn knit in, having no cut ends resulting from the removal of what are known as floating strands, which are now formed by a common method of knitting.

Another object is to provide a knit article of manufacture having different areas composed of different yarns, with a seam which joins the two areas or sections composed of loops which are interknit only with loops of the other yarn and not with loops of the same yarn, to produce a stronger, more elastic, and better looking seam than heretofore.

To these ends, the invention consists in the knit fabric or stocking substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

0f the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of one form of my improved stocking;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view illustrating my improved seam;

Fig. 3 is a diagram, on somewhat the line 2%*3 of Fig. 1, the loops being loose or elongated in an exaggerated manner;

Fig. t is a diagram of the seam shown in Fig. Q, the loops being shown loose or elongated to enable their individual forms and interengagement to be distinguished;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a. modified form of stocking.

rIlle stocking excepting for the joining seam ismade on the machine shown and claimed in my Patent No. 1,052,877, granted February 11, 1913. To produce the seam, I have added to the said machine another pair of lifters, and I allow the droppers to be in action during the making of the same.

In the following description, the dyed and undyed yarns will be mainly referred to, for the sake of brevity, as the black and white yarns. It is to be understood however that I do not limit myself to the employment of black and white yarns alone, as the yarn which constitutes those portions of the stocking which do, or are liable to, show, may be any desired color, and the other, or so-called white yarn, might be other than pure white. For a sanitary Stocking however, the said white yarn, if colored at all, should contain only absolutely harmless coloring material.

As has been mentioned, the stocking may be produced by the machine of my said atent. As shown in Fig. l, the dyed orl b ack yarn is used for the leg 5, ankle G, instep or top of the foot 7, and arch 8 of the sole. I do not limit myself to the specific area of reinforcing indicated in Fig. l. Obviously the reinforcing or high splicing 10 might be carried to a greater height, and the reinforcing might be carried farther forward along the sole portion than indicated in said Fig. V1. The reinforcing 11 might, if desired, extend forward t0 the ball 12. rll`he lportion which constitutes the ball 1Q, as

any substance or material liable to affect the foot injuriously.

While in Fig. l I have illustrated the reinforcing of the sole as not complete, the portion of the sole under the arch or instep not being reinforced, it is to be understood that the reinforcing may continue the entire length of the sole. As the chief wear of stockings occurs at the heel and toe and under the ball of the foot, it is s eldom really necessary to reinforce the portion of the sole under the arch of the foot or between the heel and ball. As stated, however, I do not limit myself to a stocking having the entire sole reinforced, since only portions of the sole (under the heel land ball) need have the reinforcing thread. Of course .if the stocking be of the sanitary type herein described, viz., having .the yarn which com poses all but the toe of dyed material while the toe is of undyed yarn, then the undyed or white yarn, which is drawn in to the needles of the knitting machine for vproducing the undyed toe portions, may be of heavier grade than the dyed yarn so that no reinforcing yarn will be needed for the sole of the toe portion.

Heretofore it vhas been customary, when knitting stockings with reinforced soles, to so knit that there will be, inside of the stocking and crossing from side to side, what are commonly known as floating strands. These have to be cut out. The result is that in the completed stocking there are cut'ends inside. In my improved stocking I employ two main threads which run clear through the stocking, one for the sole and 4onefor the top of the foot, this being known as double feeding. The seam is so constructed that there are no cut ends, all of the threads or strands being continuous. In other words, my improved stocking has all po-rtions of thek yarn or strands knitvin, there `beingno floating strands that have to be cut away. p

The stockingshown in Fig. 1 has two continuous main yarns in its foot portion, said stocking having va high spliced heel and a reinforced sole portion, the reinforce yarn being an additional yarn entirely knit in i and coperating with one of the main yarns,

the front of the ankle and the top of the foot being composed only of the same yarn as that which formsA the leg portion. This will be readily understood from the following:

The machine of my patent above mentioned, when operating to knit as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawsame yarn as that which forms the leg portion, therefbeing, moreover, no floating yarn resulting from the reciprocating motion during reinforcing.

` By omitting any reinforcing of the arch portion 8 of the sole, I am able to knit the portions l,7, 8 by continuous or'round and round knitting. Itwill be readily understood of course that continuous or round and round knitting greatly facilitates production, because the operationl of the knitting machine can be much faster when moving continuously than when reciprocating. As I have stated, an'especial object of the invention is to provide a sanita stocking, by which I mean that the portions of the stocking which, if of dyed yarn, would be most likelyv to have a poisonous effect upon the foot, are undyed. The portion of 7o the foot which is the tenderest ,and most likely to be aected by dyed yarn is the toe and a portion of the sole extending rearwardly from the toe under theball of the foot. As the pressure of the arch or middle portion of the foot is such as to have much less wearing effect upon the stocking, that portion of the foot is not likely to be affected by dyedyarn, nor in fact does that -portion customarily need reinforcing. As

a rule, people prefer stockings of dyed yarn,- at least all such portions of the stocking as are liable to show above the shoe are dyed. It has been customary to knit stockings with undyed heel, toe and entire sole portions also of undyed yarn,r Such stock` ings however, when low shoes are worn, are liable to show some of the white or undyed yarn above'the edge of the shoe. By knitting the stocking all of dyed yarn eX-" f cepting the toe 13 and a portion 12 of the sole rearwardly from said toe, these ex- Y cepted portions being of undyed yarn, I v furnish stockings that meet all requirements as to being sanitary, or, in other words, hav- 9 5 ing undyed yarn in all portions which would be liable to affect the foot, while leaving all portions of the'stocking which would. be liable to show above low shoes, of the dyed yarn that is desired for appearance sake.

The improved seam which joins the portions 7, 12, of the fabric, is illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. It is strong and elastic, owing. to the peculiar `interlooping shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and yet does not open out 105 so as to show interstices. This last fact is best indicated in Fig. 2, which shows the. same seam but in the actualclose conditionl of the fabric. This is dueto the fact that the marginal needle loops of each yarn are engaged or inter-knit only with loops of the other yarn. Furthermore the seam is better looking, especially when yarns of contrasting colors are employed, because they cross each other and give somewhat the appearance of what is commonly known as a herringbone stitch, that is, the yarns of the two colors alternate with each other, as shown in Fig. 2. y It is to.be understood .that the exagger- 126 ated loops in the three unlettered vertical series in Fig. 4 represent those which are Y formed by the needles of the knitting Inachine. It will be seen that those of the middle series are the marginal needle loops of the two yarns, and each loop of one color in interknit only with yarn of the other color. To facilitate description, theA loops b and w are herein referred to as terminal loops, although one side of a loop b or w forms also 130 Langeac' Y che sidev of a needle loop. This is due to the fact that the loops b and w are the result of the reciprocating action caused by the return of the yarnto'form the next'knit 5 ting course. Each needle loop of one yarn, as just described, is knitted through one loop of the other yarn and is never drawn through another loop of itself, but is engaged solely with loop portions of the `other yarn. It is,

o however, embraced by two strands of the other yarn. Each needle loop of the middle series shown in Fig. 4 of the black yarn, passes through the needle loop of the white yarn, and vice versa. Each such loop may 5 be Said to then merge into a terminal loop vl5 or w, `as the color may be, so that a con tinued portion of the yarn which forms each needle loop returns along with the yarn which formed the needle loop, and this reother yarn. This results in close knitting, with no gaps showing when the knitted fabric is in the .condition shovvn in Fig'. 2.

Having described my 1nvention,'T claim: 5 A 1. A knit stocking having the toe and a portion of the sole rearwardly from said toe `composed ofundyed yarn, the instep portion of the sole and the heel and the arch or midlength portion of the sole being composed of continuous'dyed yarn, the undyed yarn eX tending rearwardly along only a portion of the sole, the area of the portion of the stocking composed of` undyed yarn being less 5 vtan the surface which is concealed by a low s oe.

2. A stocking having its foot, rinclu'ding.

turning yarn embraces the needle loop of the the instep portion of the sole, composed of knit dyed yarn, the sole forward of the instep portion being composed of knit undyed yarn, the area of the portion of the stocking composed of undyed yarn being less than the surface which is concealed by a low shoe. 3. A stocking having two continuous main yarns in its foot portion, said stocking having a high spliced heel and a reinforced sole portion, the reinforce yarn being entirely knit in, the front of the ankle and top of the foot being composed only of the same yarn as that which forms the leg portion.

4. A knitted article of manufacture having different portions composed of different yarns which, at the seam, are intel-looped with each other, the marginal needle loops of each yarn passing through the marginal needle loops of the other yarn, a portion of the yarn which forms each such needle loop returning and embracing the needle loop of the other yarn with which it is interlooped.

5. A knitted article of manufacture composed of different yarns joined by a knitted seam, said different yarns crossing each other at the seam, each marginal needle loop of one yarn being knitted through one loop of the other yarn and embraced by double strands of the other yarn.

'In testimony whereof T have aHixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR N. AMES. Witnesses:

NE1L M. lFADDEN, P. J. Ccsmnu. 

